23 September-2 October: Richmond Walking & Book Festival 2011

Richmond’s Walking & Book Festival is a fabulous 10 days of walking and varied entertainment based in the wonderful Georgian Market Town on the River Swale in North Yorkshire. 

A favourite stop-off point in lower Swaledale on Wainwright’s 192-mile coast-to-coast walk, Richmond is a wonderfully romantic town with its Norman castle overlooking the River Swale and its large cobbled marketplace.

The festival starts on Friday 23 September with a Ghost Walk around the town with Rhoda Fraser. For the next 10 days, there’s something for every taste taking in magnificent scenery and ranging from:

• guided walks of Wensleydale and Swaledale
• tours of the historic town including the Castle and Georgian Theatre
• a beautiful walk alongside the Wensleydale Railway
• Herriot Country Ramble – taking in Arkengarthdale, one of the settings of All Creatures Great and Small
• the Wensleydale Chain – a series of circular walks commencing at Hawes and leading through the Dale
• a walk exploring J M Turner’s links with Richmond

And when the walking’s over for the day, there’s a great range of entertainment available throughout the Festival including music, slide shows, chamber orchestras, exhibitions, a folk night, talks, films and céilidhs.

The Book Festival features authors and writers, performers and poets, including the ever-popular Pam Ayres, and you can also enjoy wine and beer tastings, and sample a wide variety of excellent local produce including cheese, ice cream, breads, ales, plus Richmond has a great selection of restaurants and cafés.

So if you’ve a love of walking, great entertainment, literature, food and drink, this Festival will be right up your street.

For the full Festival programme, please visit the Books & Boots website here.

For Richmond bed and breakfast accommodation or self catering holiday cottages in Richmond, check out some of the places to stay on Hello Yorkshire.